A San Francisco city library is taking a unique approach to blocking public porn viewing on its computers. (AP Photo/File)

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Apparently, running down to the public library to stream a little porn is a lot of people's idea of a rockin' good time, so San Francisco is responding by installing plastic "privacy screens" over computers, reports KTVU. The screens are meant to shield images from passing patrons who use the library for less nefarious reasons. The 18 screens are still in the testing phase, but librarians hope that they will help them avoid more draconian measures, such as filters or limiting access.

"We're always looking for any kind of elegant solution that strikes a balance between the right to privacy and folks that want to use the library for any other intended purpose," says the city's librarian. But others say the screens don't cut it, with one library patron complaining that he could still see the dirty images on one of the shrouded computers. Anti-porn group Morality in Media is pushing for libraries to get online filters that block such content. "It seems kinda messed up, people doing that kinda stuff in a public environment," says a patron. "I mean, people don't get on the bus and read Hustler in front of everybody."

The library is lying. Filtering out porn is NOT censorship. The US Supreme Court found it perfectly legal to filter out porn, just like libraries already have book selection policies that filter out porn. Yes, porn may be legal, but a library is NOT an open public forum where anything goes, so the library has reasonable and legal control mechanisms available to it. See: http://tinyurl.com/ALAdogma What is going on here is the library leadership is acting like it is the authority. It is not. The people are. He thinks he will act like he knows the law and people will follow along. Joe Walsh's new album, "Analog Man," has a song "Lucky That Way" containing the following message: I'll let you all in on a little secret If I could share with you a thing or two If you just act like you know what you're doing Everybody thinks that you do And that's how the San Francisco library leader is acting, and everybody thinks he's right. He's not. I'll let you all in on a little secret. The library is lying and it knows it is lying. Just look at another library investigative report where, when the library director is finally cornered about her lies, she merely says, well then, "avert your eyes." San Francisco Bay Area, CA: "Porn, Sex Crimes At Libraries; I-Team Investigation," KGO, 29 Nov 2006, "[T]he Martin Luther King Library has a problem with pornography. They have no rule against viewing photographs or full-screen sex videos from Internet sites, even with children nearby. Chief librarian Jane Light says it's a matter of free speech. .... ABC7's Dan Noyes: 'I've seen the [privacy] screens and I see how they work and the stuff is visible from behind. You can see everything.' Jane Light...: 'So you can avert your eyes.' .... San Jose's police blotter over the past year lists several arrests for child porn at the library, at least ten cases of child molestation or other sex crimes involving kids and several cases of men viewing porn and performing a lewd act, right at the terminal. .... Sgt. John Laws, San Jose library police: 'It showed him sitting at the computer terminal and ... masturbating.' .... Marcia Stacke, Child Quest International: 'You know, sometimes I wonder if we're just too afraid to be, I don't know, sued in this country. We've got to step out and protect our kids. Enough is enough.'" http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=i_team&id=4808374 Apparently enough wasn't enough and the libraries are fooling the public again. Citizens of San Francisco: your library is misleading you and endangering your community and especially your children, convincing you not to demand legal and effective means to protect yourselves, namely, Internet filters. Privacy screens do not work except to give the library a cover story to appear as if it is taking appropriate action. Media: If balance is your interest, I have been opposing the ALA on this very issue for over a decade. Contact me: http://tinyurl.com/AboutDan